Kids Art Quilt: Sun Paintings

I have been working on the last Kids Spin Art Quilt and a quilt made with Bunny #1's first fabric line - I should really finish & quilt them .... and I can make all the excuses in the world to why we haven't completed them yet - but it seems a fact of life these days that my personal projects seem to take a back seat these days.

So like any insane person - I decided to add another project to my 'to be completed list'. This was a really fun & easy project to do with my young bunnies. I wish that I had taken more photos of the kids doing the project rather than the end results - but between fabric dye flying around, helping them cover the fabric, food stuffs being thrown everywhere & there being 3 of them and only one of me - it was a tad hectic - really fun but a wee bit hectic.





After painting the fabric and leaving the pieces in the sun for about 2+ hours (until they were completely dry) I put them through the hottest cycle in the tumble dryer, washed them in a warm wash and dried them again on the hottest setting in the tumble dryer.

What we used:

• Setacolor Transparent Paints (diluted approx 1 part paint to 1 part water)
• Brushes & paint cups
• White Cotton
• Random selection of things from the house - pasta, cereal, oats, rice, plastic lids, cardboard stencils, glass pebbles etc

We laid out our cotton fabric on damp plastic tables in the shade (it is important you are not in the sun for the painting bit.) The fabric stuck nice & flat on the wet tables. After we had finished the project the tables were a bit of a mess - most of the color came out with a bit of soft scrub. If we do think again (which we surely will) I will be mounting the fabric to cardboard so they are easier to carry & the cardboard can be discarded after they have been finished with. 

Bunny #2 (3 years old) got bored trying to cover all the fabric on her own - she really needed help to cover all the fabric. But when she says she is done there isn't much you can do to change her mind. So her first painting was 'mostly' purple and then she emptied a ton of rice onto it.

BEFORE

AFTER

Bunny #1 needed help to cover the fabric too but was fully into the decorating the fabric. Her first piece of fabric we used a heart cardboard stencil in the center and plastic lids to make circles.

BEFORE

I think we might have diluted her paint too much as her spots are not as bright as I would have liked them to be.

AFTER

This is the only one I painted. Pink with yellow spots and the kids threw swirly pasta all over it.

BEFORE

Looking at the results - Bunny #2 has the right approach - more decorating is better. 

AFTER

Then we decided to paint some stories.  Bunny#1 painted a beach, sea & sunset. She used a cardboard stencil for the sun, piles of oats for the clouds, spaghetti for seaweed, more oats for sand and glass pebbles for stones.

BEFORE

AFTER

Bunny #2 is really into mermaids so she painted a sea & sunset - she actually poured the yellow color on. We didn't have a mermaid stencil so she settled on a dolphin and a fish, glass pebbles for rocks and piles of oats for clouds. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Here is Bunny #3 helping to distribute some cheerios over the a piece of cotton painted in blocks of different colors. (I really wouldn't suggest allowing your kids to eat Cheerios off of fabric paint.)

BEFORE

AFTER

And Bunny #1's final art work of a rainbow, sun & clouds. She was very definite that there should only be two pasta bows - one for the sun & one for the rainbow - the clouds are made from piles of oats again.

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm going to make 2 quilts one of each of the girls out of these prints - want to know what the quilts will look like? Stay tuned!

Memorial Quilt: Coats & Kilts - Quilt #4

This is the final quilt in a series of 4 quilts made for a family with deep Irish roots. The father would travel to Ireland over the years and bring back Irish kilts and traditional dresses. All these garments were kept alongside some gorgeous childhood coats.

This quilt is a double Irish Chain pattern. The dominating fabrics for this quilt is the green velvet taken from this traditional Irish dress and a child's pink wool coat.

I removed all the ribbon from the dress very carefully so it could be in squares in the quilt. I also had to add some pink flannel to the quilt so that I had enough pink for all the diagonal squares in the pattern.

And similar to the 1st quilt I completed for this family I used some squares from the blue cotton dress with ribbon & lace still showing. 

I completed the Doctors without Borders Quilt before quilting this quilt which gave me a good platform to practice my feathers. 

This quilt has a lot of feathers on it. In the center of every chain is a medallion of feathers. Some feathers are on straight spines ...

 ... others are on curved spines.

 

There are feathers on the border ... 

... that curl around the corners. 

 

And the back - even my husband commented on how pretty the back was!

I am going to really miss these quilts! Such a lot of work - I think maybe at least 100+ hrs in each!

Memorial Quilt: Coats & Kilts - Quilt #3

This is the 3rd quilt that I made for a family of three sisters and one brother from a box of childhood coats & kilts that their mother had collected. You can view the first quilt here and the second quilt here.

This is the 3rd quilt I finished - it is another Drunkards Path pattern.

But I hope I have given the traditional pattern a little twist. I quilted this quilt in straight lines using blue, red & white threads - I tried to mimic a sort of tartan pattern in terms of the lines placement & order.

 

I have had several people tell me recently that straight lines are perceived to be simple - but let me assure you - straight lines - in any direction - with any machine - are not at all easy and anyone who can pull off perfect straight lines - line after line after line - gets my award of quilting valor. So while my straight lines might not be 100% perfect - I do think the idea of quilting a tartan quilting design ontop was accomplished.

 I also sewed all the different the buckles from all the kilts back onto the quilt. 

For me personally - completing this particular quilt was a huge effort and lesson for me in persistence and trusting an idea or vision. I was so pleased with how the top turned out with all the fabrics blending into one another ...

... but then there was a little hiccup.  Part way through this quilt I had an 'oh no I think I'm making a horrible mistake moment' AND the timing on my machine went AND I had my thyroid removed. The afternoon I got back from hospital my lovely handiquilter dealer was there in my bedroom fixing the timing on my machine while I snored off the results of my sleep deprived hospital night and the rather long lasting results of the anesthetic (utterly embarrassing.) And the next morning I was up continuing the straight lines - still unable to speak or drink any liquids. It was a tough couple of days - but I kept on quilting lines - and gradually my initial vision began to come together & now I am really pleased with this result. I really love the buckles on the quilt (I hope the family do too!)  I suspect they might have been discarded otherwise and as this quilt is for the only brother in the family - I like the masculine edge the buckles give the quilt. 

And this quilt has my favorite bit out of ALL the four quilts on this quilt. A large kilt pin in the bottom right corner!!

Memorial Quilt: Kilt & Coat Quilt #2

This is the 2nd quilt that I made for a family from a box of childhood coats & kilts that was discovered in their mother's attic when she passed. You can view the first quilt here.

This time I'm sharing the back of the quilt first - because it is kind of fun, modern & minimal. Can you guess what the front design is?

Of the four quilts there are two Irish chain quilts and two Drunkards Path quilts. This is the first of the Drunkard Path quilts.


I quilted the quilt in a large curved fan design. In the center of each block I sewed a button. Some of the buttons are from the coats and others are from the kilts.

There is a total of 20 different fabrics from different garments in this quilt!

You can read more about this project at:
Memorial Quilt: Kilt & Coat Quilt #1
Memorial Quilt from Kilts & Coats

Memorial Quilt: Kilt & Coat Quilt #1

I have been working on these quilts - four in total - for a long time. I am excited to share the results with you.

The quilts are made from kilts and coats that were in the families mothers attic. There were kilts, coats & traditional Irish dresses from their childhood. The fabrics, textures and colors were bright and beautiful - a mixture of wools, velvets, cotton (and maybe some mystery blends.) 





I decided to add some white flannel to all the quilts - flannel because it is soft and snuggly - but also because it compliments and blends into the texture of the wool kilts and coats. All the squares were cut to 2.5"x2.5" and are 2"x2" finished.

I was very careful when I took the clothes apart to preserve all the details. I took the ribbon off and reattached it to strips of flannel to use as squares. I didn't want to waste any ribbon detail so there is a button hole included in one block.



I left some trim and lace on in some places. I love how you discover something new in every square.



 The center of this quilt is a panel from a blue cotton summer dress.


I used most of the rest of this blue cotton dress in the diagonals lines of the triple Irish Chain pattern. I added some matching blue flannel so that I had enough of the same color to complete the pattern.

In the center of each chain is a flower ....

... which is surrounded by tiny pebbles. Would you believe me if I told you each flower took me 1hr to complete?

The border of the quilts is taken from the blue velvet in this dress ....

... I LOVE quilting velvet. It is gorgeous to work with. 

The binding is made from an old school uniform.

And I love the back. (I couldn't decide which photo I liked the best ....)

AND just to remind you of what some of the different materials started as ...

 Childhood wool coats

13 wool kilts

This is the first of four quilts I completed for the family.

For me there are several really exciting moments in a project like this - being given the work is such a tremendous tremendous honor - the moment you load the finished top on the machine is so exciting - then finishing the quilting is even more exciting - and finally when you hand the materials back to the family as a finished quilt - that feeling is just something else.